Take Your Workout to the Next Level

By Chelsea Cooper, MPA, CPT

OK, so it's a new year and I'm sure fitness is on your list of resolutions - it's probably the most popular resolution people make every new year. Unfortunately, it's also right up there in terms of the resolutions people break shortly thereafter.

Here's another snag: You aren't looking forward to doing the same exercises you did last year. Although squats, push-ups, lunges and pull-ups are the foundation for most, if not all exercises, they can get monotonous over time and your body could do the thing we don't want it to do: plateau. If your body plateaus, it means it essentially gets used to the exercises and figures out a way to burn less calories efficiently. That means a less productive workout for you, which is never a good thing.

I'm all for keeping things the same if it works; you know the saying: "If it's not broken, don't fix it." At the same time, if you can tweak a few things and infuse more excitement and fun into your workout, I'm all for it, too. After all, the key to sticking with an exercise plan is just that: sticking with it.The more fun you have and the more you challenge your body, the happier you'll be. With that said, let's change up some oldies but goodies and see how variations on common exercises can keep you mentally and physically challenged in 2011.

Push-Ups

Uchimata Push-Up Variation

From a one-leg push-up position and squeezing the glute (buttock) of your support leg, slowly lower your body as one unit until your chest grazes the floor and pause for a count.

From there, use your glute to slowly raise your lifted leg as high as you can without overly hyperextending your lower back.

Then push back up to the starting position, switch sides and repeat for time.